ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences2026
The worst tie matters: intergenerational relationship trajectories in multi-child families and depressive symptoms of older parents in China.
Article in The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesClose intergenerational relationships are associated with better mental health in later life, yet limited longitudinal research has examined how trajectories of relationship quality, especially differentiation across multiple children within the same family, relate to older parents' depressive symptoms. This study identifies distinct trajectories of parent-child relationship quality and examines their associations with depressive symptoms among older adults in China, while assessing whether these associations vary across socioeconomic groups.
methodsUsing nationally representative panel data from the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (2014-2020; N = 3,519), we applied group-based trajectory modeling to characterize six-year patterns of relationship quality, separately capturing the worst, best, and average ties within families. Linear regression models estimated associations between these trajectories and depressive symptoms at the final wave, adjusting for baseline characteristics and testing whether these associations differed by education, occupation, and hukou status.
resultsParents in steadily or rapidly strengthening relationship trajectories reported significantly fewer depressive symptoms than those in persistently strained trajectories. When trajectories of the worst, best, and average ties were modeled simultaneously, only trajectories of the worst relationship remained significantly associated with depressive symptoms. These associations were concentrated among parents with lower socioeconomic status. DISCUSSION: Intergenerational relationship dynamics, particularly changes in the most strained tie, are linked to older adults' mental health in multi-child families. Findings highlight the psychological importance of relational repair and suggest that parents with fewer socioeconomic resources may be especially sensitive to relationship change.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.